Mobile messaging short code translation and routing system and method

Abstract

Provided herein is a system, method and product for performing address translation and routing of short codes. The embodiment described herein primarily supports the wireless and standardized SMS; however, one skilled in the art can readily appreciate that the present invention can also be applied to any mobile messaging technology, e.g., Multimedia Messaging Service (“MMS”), etc.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. In a network system comprising at least one mobile device, message entity gateway, short code translator and application server, a method of translating and routing short code addresses, comprising:
 providing a plurality of short codes and corresponding application server destination addresses, wherein each short code is a 4-digit short code; 
 at said mobile device,
 initiating a mobile-originated message to the application server, said message addressed with a 4-digit sort code; and 
 forwarding the mobile-originated message to the message entity gateway; 
 
 at said message entity gateway,
 if the corresponding destination address of the 4-digit short code was previously cached, routing the mobile-originated message to the application server based on the destination address, 
 else,
 querying the short code translator with said 4-digit short code for said corresponding application server destination address, 
 caching the destination address for future use, 
 establishing a connection between the message entity gateway and the application server, and 
 routing the mobile-originated message to the application server based on the destination address, 
 
 
 wherein the short code translator comprises a plurality of decentralized servers to cache a common short code translation database. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing a plurality of short codes and corresponding application server destination addresses comprises:
 providing an end date when at least one of the plurality of short codes stops being valid. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the mobile-originated message comprises one of the following: ANSI-41 SMS, GSM SMS, Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol, simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), computer interface for message distribution (CIMD), universal computer protocol (UCP), and Hypertext transport protocol (HTTP). 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing a plurality of short codes and corresponding application server destination addresses includes a range of the plurality of short codes corresponding to an application server destination address. 
     
     
       5. In a network system comprising at least one mobile device, message entity gateway, short code translator and application server, a method of translating and routing short code addresses, comprising:
 providing a plurality of short codes and corresponding mobile device destination addresses, wherein each short code is a 4-digit short code; 
 at said application server,
 initiating an application-originated message to the mobile device, said message addressed with a 4-digit short code; and 
 forwarding the application-originated message to the message entity gateway; 
 
 at said message entity gateway,
 if the corresponding destination address of the 4-digit short code was previously cached, routing the application-originated message to the application server based on the destination address 
 else,
 querying the short code translator with said 4-digit short code for said corresponding mobile device destination address, 
 caching the destination address for future use, 
 establishing a connection between the message entity gateway and the mobile device, and 
 routing the application-originated message to the mobile device based on the destination address 
 
 
 wherein the short code translator comprises a plurality of decentralized servers to cache a common short code translation database. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein providing a plurality of short codes and corresponding mobile device destination addresses comprises:
 providing an end date for when the plurality of short codes and corresponding mobile device destination addresses is valid. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 5 , wherein providing a plurality of short codes and corresponding mobile device destination addresses includes a range of the plurality of short codes corresponding to a mobile device destination address. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 providing an end date for when the range of the plurality of short codes corresponding to the mobile device destination address is valid. 
 
     
     
       9. A system for translating and routing short code addresses, the system comprising:
 a database for storing short code routing information for a plurality of short codes, wherein each short code is a 4-digit short code corresponding to a physical destination address; 
 a short code translator server for supporting resolution and administration of message routing for messages initiated from a mobile device to a destination application server or for messages initiated from an application server to a destination mobile device; and 
 a short code administration system for administering the plurality of short codes, 
 wherein the short code translator comprises a plurality of decentralized servers to cache a common short code translation database. 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 , wherein the physical destination address is a physical destination address for at least one of: an application server and a mobile device. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 9 , wherein the database is further for storing an end date for when each of the plurality of short codes corresponding to a physical destination address is valid. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 9 , wherein the database is further for storing short code routing information for a range of the plurality of short codes corresponding to a physical destination address. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the database is further for storing an end date for when the range of the plurality of short codes corresponding to a physical destination address is valid. 
     
     
       14. In a network system comprising at least one mobile device, message entity gateway, short code translator and application server, a method of translating and routing short code addresses, comprising:
 providing a plurality of short codes and corresponding application server destination addresses, and providing an end date for when the plurality of short codes and corresponding application server destination addresses is valid; 
 at said mobile device,
 initiating a mobile-originated message to the application server, said message addressed with a 4-digit sort code; and 
 forwarding the mobile-originated message to the message entity gateway; 
 
 at said message entity gateway,
 if the corresponding destination address of the 4-digit short code was previously cached, routing the mobile-originated message to the application server based on the destination address, 
 else,
 querying the short code translator with said 4-digit short code for said corresponding application server destination address, 
 caching the destination address for future use, 
 establishing a connection between the message entity gateway and the application server, and 
 routing the mobile-originated message to the application server based on the destination address, 
 
 
 wherein the short code translator comprises a plurality of decentralized servers to cache a common short code translation database.